People undergo brain surgery for a variety of reasons, including removing a brain tumor, replacing shunts that have been clogged or infected, and to stop bleeding around the brain. Any time the brain is operated on, there are risks of permanent damage. Even surgeons who have years of experience performing brain surgeries can make critical mistakes due to negligence and carelessness.

When errors are made during brain surgeries, additional brain damage could be the result. Here are some ways in which neurosurgeons can make errors during surgeries:

Inaccurate cuts. When a surgeon needs to drill a hole into the brain to perform a biopsy on a brain tumor, there is a possibility for damaging a healthy part of the brain. When a brain tumor must be removed, a surgeon could mistakenly cut into the brain rather than the tumor, which can negatively impact a person’s important functions such as speech, thoughts, feelings or movements.

Wrong-sided brain surgery. When a patient goes in to have a specific area of the brain operated on and a surgeon mixes up the patient's charts and information, a patient can end up having the wrong side of the brain operated on, which can lead to further brain damage and an additional brain surgery.

Shunt replacement surgery. While shunts are placed inside the brain’s ventricles to remove excess fluid from the brain, they can sometimes fail due to mechanical malfunction or they can become infected. If doctors fail to treat these infections or replace the failed shunts, patients may suffer brain damage and life-threatening injuries.

Unfortunately, adverse side effects can occur following critical mistakes made during brain surgery, such as infections, bleeding, seizures, coma, stroke, paralysis, and brain damage. Consequently, some patients’ speech, vision, movements, thoughts, and emotions are negatively affected for the rest of their lives.

If you or a loved one has been harmed during brain surgery, negligence could be the reason. You will need a lawyer who can investigate what happened during your brain surgery to determine if you have a valid medical malpractice claim. To find out more about medical malpractice claims, please order a free copy of our book, What You Need to Know Before Pursuing a Medical Malpractice Case. If you have additional questions or would like a free evaluation of your case, we welcome your call (703) 591-0067.